


and the fog of what is right won't cover us

by sayonide



Series: 3 rounds and a sound [14]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Murder, Pre-Canon, i can't force myself to write blake/adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27640396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayonide/pseuds/sayonide
Summary: "I have to get out of here," she whispers to Ilia one day, the two of them out in the city. She's 16, and Adam's body count has risen, from 3 to 7 to 12 and then to enough that he can't hide it and doesn't care to."Please do," Ilia whispers back.
Series: 3 rounds and a sound [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002933
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	and the fog of what is right won't cover us

**Author's Note:**

> longtent
> 
> double check the tags and b safe

It was another day, and another mission. Blake sits in the shade behind a bush and stays out of the way, waiting for Adam to agree on some terms with whoever he's negotiating with this one, or give her the signal to attack. 

It's been a long few weeks, though. Full of talking, bargaining, negotiating, far more diplomacy that she'd ever think Adam could manage. Aside from that, though, she was sat in the bushes every time, waiting for the command, and it got boring. And Blake, for how often her stealth gets praised, is 15 years old and sick of being curled up just out of range of anything to even slightly relieve her of her boredom. 

So she leans up and peeks over the edge of the bush, pressing her ears forward to listen in, before immediately recoiling.

Adam. Standing in the meeting place, one hand on the other man's shoulder. The other on his sword, the edge of it held up and pressing against the man's neck.

"Say it." 

The man presses his head back into the tree he's held against and away from Wilt, and he yells out, frantic, "I swear I'll help the White Fang and provide service to any and all faunus coming in and out of my store!"

Adam tilts his head, and pulls Wilt back a little. Both the man and Blake let out a sigh of relief, before he smirks.

"Not good enough."

In a smooth motion, he swings forward, slicing cleanly through the man's neck, and Blake flinches back into another bush. The rustling and the sudden leaves in her face break her out of the temporary trance that the sight of Wilt, arcing through blood, put her into.

When she pulls herself free of the bush and peers back over to Adam, though, he's staring at her through the mask, one hand up in the air to stop the other man's partners from moving.

"Who's there?" He calls, and Blake's not one to defy a direct command like that. So she peeks her head up over the bush so that he can see her and waves. He gives her one short nod, before turning back to the two. With a wave of his sword, he warns them, "You better stay right there, or you know what kind of fate's in store." When the two of them nod, Adam turns and steps over the bush Blake's behind.

He leads them out of sight, and the second they're far enough away, he grips her arm, yanks her backwards, and Blake stumbles over her feet trying to avoid getting dragged through the low-hanging branches. "I asked you to do one thing," he snarls out. "Just stay out of sight, stay out of my way, and you _failed_." 

"You didn't have to kill him!" She protests, and he throws her in front of him, where she trips over herself and hits the ground. "He was submitting, he was agreeing with you, you didn't h-"

"I did it for us," he interrupts. She knows by now to shut up, eyes darting to where his hand still rests on the hilt of his sword. "What about that can't you understand? I did it for _us. Everything_ I've done was for the White Fang. You'd do well to remember that."

"He was innocent!"

"He served as an excellent example for the other two. I don't like to need to repeat myself, _Blake._ "

She swallows back her next retort and lowers her head. Three years with him has taught her a lot, but most importantly, when to shut up and agree with whatever he says.

So she nods, apologizes, promises to never do it again, and reminds him that he should get back to the two men he'd left in the forest. 

He's just stressed, she reminds herself. He's not made for these long stretches of diplomacy. He's stressed, tired, he must be as anxious as she is to get out, and taking any precautions that pop into mind.

That night, when he pulls her away from the campfire mid-conversation, she shoves down her fear and repeats it to herself. He's stressed out and tired, but he's never taken it out on her. He's never gotten physical with the rest of the Fang. With the little bit of reassurance that it gives her, she ducks into the tent.

-

The next day, he tells her to stay put. Over two weeks of nothing but standing guard; there are others in camp who are fit to do it, he says. No one as good as you, though.

He smiles down at her, charming. It makes her gut twist and she can't tell why, so she ignores it, smiles back, thanks him for the break.

They put her to work cooking. "Adam's favourite or not, you're too young to be around the maps."

_Adam's favourite._ It gives her that same weird feeling, like she can't make herself like the title. Still, she agrees without a word against the name and runs off to start collecting things for dinner.

It just feels weird because he's stressed right now, she reminds herself. It's scary, because he's not usually like that. The second the negotiations are done, they can pack up camp and leave, and he'll be back to normal.

The more she repeats it, though, the less believable she finds it, until she's cutting free berries with fast, jagged swipes. It's frantic, choppy, and almost exactly what she needs, and when she sits down a while away from camp to cut off the remains much more carefully, it's easier than it would've been before.

When she walks into camp, holding her collection of berries, Adam's nowhere to be seen. She's a little guilty for the flash of relief that spikes through her, but the berries need washing and it wouldn't do anyone any good for her to be nervous around Adam. Besides, she reasons, there shouldn't be reason to anyway. No one in their camp has gotten a single scratch from the humans with him as their acting leader. 

That night, though, he sets his bowl down in the dirt next to her. "Did you make this?" He asks - _demands,_ she thinks, and shoves it aside - and she nods, nervous. He hums, and without another word, finishes his bowl before motioning to her to follow him into his tent.

-

When he points her towards her hiding spot for the day, he gives her a warning glare. _Don't fuck this up_ , it screams, and she nods, ducks down, and resolves to not even move in her safe areas unless he gives the command.

The negotiation goes as planned -- or so she assumes (hopes) -- and when he comes into sight, she slides out and follows until the crunching of the storeowners disappear. 

He acknowledges her with a quick nod, and Blake convinces herself that there's a smile on his face, however small. It means that he's calming back down. The negotiations are slowing; this is the first in over half a week. He's in a better mood. He'll go back to before in no time.

With that thought in mind, when he beckons her towards his (their?) tent that night and she's still not done her dinner, she asks him to give her a bit of time to finish.

He smiles at her reassuringly, nods, and she's excused the next day so no one questions when she doesn't leave the tent.

_No wonder she thinks she's above us all_ , she hears through the wall. _Being allowed to do shit like this all the time_.

_I wish I couldn't,_ she thinks, _I wish he didn't have to let me,_ and closes her eyes to try to fall asleep again.

-

By the next week, she convinces herself that it was a mistake. He was just scared, she reasons. The period they were stuck in was almost over, and he didn't want to have to go through it all again. He was scared, and stressed, and she'd pushed him too far. He was being reasonable, more than reasonable, and she'd taken advantage of his patience.

She's healing up fast, an advantage to having been forced to unlock her aura early, and by the time a week has passed she's well enough to be out with the others again. This time, when she heads to her position, Adam shoots her a warm smile and a nod. 

The strange, sickening feeling from before is back, but she shoves it down. It was nothing she didn't deserve, she reminds herself again, and tucks down into her space against a tree. Besides, she's healed up alright. It wasn't like he did permanent damage. He'd never do that.

This time, she's pressed closer to where Adam's talking to the other man. Poking her head into the bushes, to make extra sure her ears can't be seen, she perks them up and listens.

"...The case, then tell me why my men have been reporting acts of racism in that very store?"

"I- I swear, they must be- mistaken, some of our stores look very similar! Or- Maybe it was some of those kids, around the streets, they come by and cause trouble all the time!"

A pause, and then the distinct fluttering of paper. 

"So this man, he's not your employee? Says here he's that and a bit _more_. Logan White. Twenty-four years old, grew up in Atlas. Moved over here to Vale for business, about five years back. Lives in the apartment next to yours, and has been reported- oh, wow. Over a dozen times, swearing and chasing away the young faunus children who come to buy supplies from his workplace. You're saying you don't know him?"

A long silence follows, and Blake winces in sympathy. She knows all too well what it's like, being backed in a corner with her words. The man shouldn't have lied if he wanted to strike any kind of deal with Adam.

Finally, a strangled noise comes through. "N-no. Never met him."

"So you wouldn't mind, then, if I were to..."

The _ssshk_ of ripping paper, and it's not hard to guess what Adam means. The man chokes on what sounds suspiciously like a sob, and a moment's silence rings out through the clearing. Blake presses her ears forward, more, further, hoping to just catch something to know what was happening.

"That's fine," Adam croons, and Blake almost shudders at the memory of the sick, sweet smile that comes with that voice. "We can test that out, for you to sort through your feelings. Bring him forward, Fennec."

A moment of silence before a soft squelching noise, and Blake almost pukes when she realizes what Adam means. At the same time, the man - _Logan White_ , she thinks, _racist asshole_ , tries to makes herself hate him - lets out a near agonizing scream as Adam laughs. 

"Now you know the consequences," he says over the whimpering. "I guess we know the truth now. Should I ever have to _speak_ with you again, it would do well for you to remember to tell the truth."

A soft, fleshy noise, and Adam sighs. "This is going to be hell to clean up."

_Oh, Brothers. He killed him. He killed another one._

She almost misses the sign to get up and go back to camp. Adam walks at the head, throws open the foliage covering where they've set up, and calls out to the rest of them, triumphant, as he always does.

"Another day complete!" He announces to cheers. "It's not much longer now. Vale will be safe for faunus soon. I can already see the progress happening." 

The camp is in much better spirits after, especially with Adam being in a better mood than usual, and Blake forces herself to enjoy the lightness surrounding their clearing. That night, though, when he motions for her to follow him to the tent, she turns back. Ilia's sitting, right in the same place as when their conversation was cut short, looking right back at her. _Are you okay?_ She imagines her asking, and knows that no matter what, with Adam right there, her answer will have to be a nod and a smile, pushed out through gritted teeth and a heavy hand on her shoulder.

-

"I have to get out of here," she whispers to Ilia one day, the two of them out in the city. She's 16, and Adam's body count has risen, from 3 to 7 to 12 and then to enough that he can't hide it and doesn't care to. As long as it looks like they're getting results, the rest of the Fang are happy to cover for him.

"Please do," Ilia whispers back. 

-

He catches her. She's not sure why she ever thought she could escape. 

As she's being walked back through the camp, a hand on her shoulder and that sickening smile on Adam's face, she catches Ilia's eyes. Her friend's skin turns a dark grey, wilting back into the trees, and Blake can't blame her. If it hadn't failed her before, she'd be disappearing into a shadow under Adam's hand. As it is, she walks to the tent as calmly as possible, slips under, and braces herself.

What she's not expecting is for Adam to press a hand under her chin, carefully, like he used to. 

"What's the problem here?" He asks, soft and smooth. "Why'd you run off like that, darling? Is this camp not what you expected? Am I not similar enough to your parents?"

Blake breathes in shakily and responds as calmly as she can, as calmly as he's expecting her to.

"N-no. No. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, I'm glad you came and brought me back."

"And you're sure about this, Blake? If you want to go back to your parents, and follow them in their cowardice... Well, maybe they'll accept your return. Traitors and cowards, sticking together?"

She shakes her head, willing him to let it go and believe her, but he continues. "Is this life just not it for you? You're wishing that you can go back to that chieftain's house in Menagerie, run away from our cause?"

"I'm sorry," she repeats, pressing into his hand like it'll give her any mercy. 

"You better be, darling. Or I'll make you sorry."

-

When she's 17, she has a stack of bodies on her record, and enough of a criminal record to keep her out of any chances of finally finishing her education. No one dares talk to her unless absolutely necessary; _Adam's girl_ , she hears. Even Ilia avoids long conversations, and she fades away into nothing more than Adam's shadow. His tool for long, quiet missions.

"I need to get out of here," she says to Ilia one day, sitting in the shade at the edge of the camp after lunch. 

"You're welcome to try," Ilia responds, and melts into the scenery again. Her voice still comes through, tired. "Don't expect it to go well."

What she doesn't know is that Blake's tired. It's been 17 years in the Fang, and no changes in place, no improvements for faunus. 5 years deviated from her family, trying to convince herself that Adam's the only one she needs and the only one she could ever want. 3 years of living every day with his anger. She's tired of it all, and she's already resolved to get out or die. 

"Come with me?" She asks. A last ditch attempt to bring her only safe friend along, but Ilia huffs. 

"And face Adam when he catches us? Good luck, Blake, but I'm not following you out of here."

-

The next time she's put on a mission, Adam catches her arm. "This is our one chance," he warns. "Don't screw us over."

She gives him a nod, turning and running off to check the crates and the connections between the trains. Before she can summon up the courage to jump across, though, he calls for her, and she sprints back to him.

A part of her considers letting the mechs kill him. Stay out of the way a second too long, get a solid hit on him, and run. But that voice that sounds just like him comes back into mind, mocking. _Leave it to something else, and run. You're no better than your parents, aren't you? If I hadn't figured out how useful that semblance of yours could be, you'd be useless. All you're good for is running._

So she fights how she's told to, exactly how he trained her. Covers all his openings, and darts forward when he motions for it. When she looks down past her fallen row of mechs and sees blood pooling at Adam's feet from the suit of armour he stands over, she almost manages to ignore it.

And it's the almost that pushes her to jump onto the next platform when his back is still turned away with the aftershocks of his semblance. He turns to his right, spots her, and starts running, before he recoils. Like he knows what she's about to do. 

Later, Blake will think back on this moment and realize that after all his suspicions and threats, everything he did to make her stay and all the rest of it that pushed her away, he'd never expected her to try again. How lucky she was that he'd stopped when he had, because last time was hell. She doesn't want to think about what he'd do if he caught her trying again and failing.

As he reaches out an arm, confusion clear through his mask, she crushes down the last bit of hesitation remaining and forces her voice to work. 

_Goodbye._

With one swing, one last push of her aura, the train car severs, and he's gone.

-

It's strange. She expects to be relieved. After all, she's finally free. 17 years stuck in a movement with no progress, 5 years listening to his lies, and 4 years telling them to herself. She expects to finally feel that weight lifted off of her shoulders like she used to read about, the overwhelming feeling of freedom and happiness.

But the only thing there is fear. Fear, and she realizes, regret. Because he was right. Gods, he was _right_. She'd run from her family, pushed away all her friends, and now she's running from him and there's nowhere to go anymore.

When his train car disappears from sight, she collapses, right into a ball with her knees pressed up against her eyes (he never liked it when she cried, told her that it was leftover cowardice from her parents, that she wouldn't be crying if she truly cared about making the world better for the faunus). Despite it all, though, her knees catch warmth and wetness through her leggings.

Because there's nowhere to go, no one who she could run to. Just her, dark against the bright red forest and the hundreds of SDC workers and thousands of Grimm. 

**Author's Note:**

> whatever you did today is enough to be proud of and more.
> 
> if i forgot to tag anything or this warrants a different rating/warning please do say so


End file.
